Share

Blog Roll

Breaking Trail: Learning a New Winter Sport in Park City

A new year means new beginnings and new horizons, and when you’re perched on a ridgeline in Park City you hiked up to on your own two feet, those views are mighty hard to beat.

The new also year coincides nicely with the observance of Learn a Snow Sport Month, a nationally recognized program that encourages people to, well, learn a new snow sport. While skiing and snowboarding get most of the attention in January, let’s not forget about the less glamorized winter sports like snowshoeing, Nordic skiing and the relatively new pastime of snow biking.

Thanks to the community-supported open space zones found in places like Round Valley and Synderville Basin, dozens of multi-use trails support these human-powered sports throughout Park City. With roughly 25 kilometers of groomed trails in Round Valley, skate skiers and classic skiers have manicured tracks right at their ski tips. You’ll find an equal amount of groomed trails in Synderville Basin, providing access through Willow Creek Park, the Utah Olympic Park and along the Swaner Nature Preserve.

While these trails are open to everyone, snowshoers and bikers are encouraged to explore miles of snow-covered singletrack via a slew of suggested routes that squiggle through the 700-acre playground of Round Valley.

Because public access is free, it’s possible for an entire family to hit the trails for far less than the cost of a single lift ticket. Even if you’re on a shoestring budget, equipment rentals come cheap and easy from places like White Pine Touring or Cole Sport. But the best part? Snowshoeing, Nordic skiing and snow biking don’t require much of a lesson to get started. If you can walk, glide or pedal a bike, you’ve already got the fundamentals locked down.

Wondering what kind of condition the trails are in before embarking on an adventure? Mountain Trails Foundation and Basin Recreation both post their trail reports online for the most up-to-date winter conditions.

What are you waiting for? New horizons are just a step, glide or pedal away.